Graphics Retail Project: OBEY Logo

THE OBEY LOGO

The OBEY Giant logo is an image taken from graphic designer Shepard Fairey’s ‘Andre the Giant Has a Posse’. ‘Andre the Giant Has a Posse’ is an image of professional wrestler André David Rasumoff, also known as ‘André the Giant’. Initially emerging from the skateboarding scene Fairey is best known for his Barack Obama “Hope” poster, which became famous in the run up to the 2008 U.S. presidential election. His ‘André the Giant’ design was created in 1989 and began a movement in street art and viral marketing, also appearing on skateboards and T-shirts. The design began as an experiment, but became a success. Fairey went on to artistically modifying the ‘Andre the Giant Has a Posse’ to becoming OBEY Giant. The OBEY Giant logo now appears on skateboards, T-shirts, bags, stickers, and it is still highly famous among the street art scene. OBEY is a successful clothing brand which now does not only attract skaters.

The logo is typo graphic, as it uses a combination of imagery and text. Fairey when creating the design was likely to be inspired by conceptual pop artist Barbra Kruger, who uses the methods of minimalism. A lot of Kruger’s work is black and white photography or graphics, overlaid with white blocky font on a red background similar to that of the OBEY Giant logo. I think the logo is simple but effective. The image of Andre the Giant is a stencil, which makes it easier to advertise on a street wall, as all that’s needed is a stencil and some spray paint. The word ‘OBEY’ is done in bold sans-serif font. The typeface is white coloured and blocky, which makes it stand out against the red background. The use of three bold colours in the work helps make it more rememberable and strong.

The logo does not disclose a lot of information about the company, but the logo does stand out, and it is recognisable. I think among a lot of people within the skater and underground art community the image of Andre the Giant is distinctive and they would be able to know the logo very well. Without the ‘OBEY’ text below the imagery the logo would still be able to be recognised.

I believe the logo is successful, and boasted the brand’s popularity. Its minimalistic style makes is stand out. I really like this style of work. This logo is likely to influence my designs as it highlights how simplicity can be successful. I will also look into the work of artist Barbra Kruger. I really like Kruger’s work and it influence a highly successful brand.

CREDITS: collage create by me, and photos used on collage can all be found on the Obey clothing official website.

Graphics Retail Project: The Puma Logo

THE PUMA LOGO







This is a collage for the sports brand Puma. Although for this project I am not doing sportswear, I am doing a boutique which will sell some clothing items, so I thought I would look into this brand. Being the third largest sportswear creator in the world after Nike and Adidas, Puma is a very successful label. Rudolf Dassler, creator Puma in 1948 after many years serving as Adidas manager with his brother Adolph Dassler. The original Puma logo, is still used for the company today although very slight adjustments have been made.


The logo is a typo graphic logo using a mixture of text and imagery. The text on the logo is bold sans-serif spelling out the word 'Puma'. The always uses just two colours, most commonly it is the black and white. The use of only two colours help the text and imagery stand out from the background. The image which appears to be a large cat of some kind such as a cougar or panther is also simply drawn. This simplicity makes the logo stand out more, as the panther is blocky and bold. It always helps so that the logo is not too busy. The use of the panther in the position it has been drawn in the logo relates it to athletics, and running. I think when looking at the logo you can see the relationship between the graphic and the company. I think it was a good use of imagery in a logo, as it relates to the brand.


The image of the panther in this jumping position can be recognized, fairly easily. The logo is quite simple, which makes it stand out. Sometimes it is better to have a very simple bold logo, so it becomes recognizable. I think Puma's logo achieved success as it appears on all of their products including, trainers, accessories, clothes and packaging.

The company's main target area are athletes and sports people, so these are people who are active, and sporty. I think the logo through the panther shows that this is a brand which is more energetic, and for the active. Also, because the logo is not too fancy it suggests that the brand will be efficient, instead of only concentrating on the look of their products. I think the simplicity of the logo and the image of the panther, are enough the draw their target audience in.

I like the Puma logo, the use of an animal in the logo is effective and allows shoppers to always relate this shape to the brand. I think it is important to have something to associate with a company, and I think looking at the Puma logo I was able to see this. I think maybe doing experiments which creating little shapes or characters for my shop might be useful, as then this might make my brand more recognisable.



CREDITS: Collage created by me with images from Pedestrian TV and official Puma website.

Graphics Retail Project: Raja Sandhu

RAJA SANDHU - LOGO MAN

Raja Sandhu is an internationally well known designer specialising in brand design. His client list spans to well over 2000, including big names such as Disney, Hasbro and rapper Snoop Dog. In 2009 Sandhu won 'Best Designer Canada', and his logos have appeared in many publications. He is a successful logo designer and i really like a lot of his different logos. A lot of his designs are quite simple using only a selected number of colours, yet the logos are skilful, and stand out from other logos. Below are little analysis of three of his logos.

LUDOS LOGO

This is the logo for the online retailer of innovative products; LUDOS. This is a pictorial logo, which uses WhimsyTT typeface, to create the letters LUDOS, to produce the character in the logo. The Latin for 'games' is LUDOS, which is clever as this then makes the image. The typeface is fun, which means it doesn't need to have funky colours to make it stand out. It has been done in black bold letters and the logo is a clever design. Although, I am not creating a game shop, this logo is really good. I think it is it very successful because it has created a logo, which is different and utilises the company name.

This logo will influence me to making my logo more creative. I think I will try to be more creative as this will make the logo unique and stand out.

The letters below were used to create the face:

ASHLEY- THE MUSIC

This logo is for Ashley- the music. It is a typo graphic logo, which uses bold sans-serif font. The logo heavily relates to the company, and when looking at it you can probably guess what it is. The use of the image of the guitar incorporated into the first letter of the company makes the relationship between the logo and company more recognisable. This is a fairly simple logo, which has skilfully incorporated text and graphics. I believe this logo is successful because it is recognisable, but also clever. The black colour of the text, allows the guitar which is in white to be seen. The use of contrasting colours helps for different parts of the logo, stand out. This logo targets its music audience because by looking at it you can take a good guess what the company is.

JCK LANDSCAPING CO.

This is the logo for JCK Landscaping co. This logo heavily relates to the company, as it is a landscaping company the use of a pictorial logo allows a link to be made. The logo uses the Danube typeface to create the letters 'J', 'C', and 'K', (which are also the initials of the company) these letters then make up the body of the character in the logo. Below are the individuals letters used and the typeface it was done in:

This logo has been cleverly created, using the company's initial makes it unique and different. The adding of the spade, and green grass, makes it evident that this is a logo for a company that does gardening or landscaping. This logo uses only two colours, the bold black makes the man and his utensils and the green colour is used for the grass. Using green for the grass makes the grass and the man stand out from each other. And as green is the only bright colour in the logo, it ensures that the grass stands out. In doing this we are able to recognise that this company has got something to do with grass.

Looking at this logo I am able to see the importance of making certain elements of a logo stand out more than others. Also making your logo relate to your company is important, and this logo achieves this. The logo has been successful in making to logo unique for the company, and stand out as a logo.

CREDIT: Information about Raja Sandhu and his logos can be found here http://www.rajasandhu.com/

Graphics Retail Project: Shop Logos

Shop Logos

This a collection of various logos for shops. The logos I selected are fairly different from each other, some more interesting and skilful than others. This is just a simple moodboard of a range of logos, so they help me in my inspiration process in producing a logo for my shop.

CREDITS:

1. Bitching and Junkfood, 2. Rokit, 3. Paperchase, 4. Black Milk, 5. JOY, 6. Obey Giant,

7. Topshop, 8. Dr. Martens, 9. Urban Outfitters, 10. Karmaloop, 11. American Apparel,

12. Tiger

Graphics Retail Project: Boutique Shop Logos

Boutique Shop Logos





This is a selection of different boutique logos I found.

Credits:

1. Lunacy Boutique, 2. OkieDokie Shop 3. Diverse Clothing 4. Peekaboo Vintage 5. Austique 6. Jo Malone 7. ThreadMaker Boutique 8. The WhitePepper 9. Browns Fashion 10. Yapyap 11. Dragana Perisic 12. Who We Are 13. One Boutique 14. Syd and Mallory